Category 12 Brewing Juicy Data Hazy IPA (6.1%)

Being a bit Old School, I remember when even a slight chill haze was considered a fault in craft brewing, much less the heavy, even turbid, sometimes tactile haziness that appears in many (most?) of today’s IPAs, as well as many other beers. However, that memory does not prevent me from sampling such brews unencumbered by prejudice, especially when they are the product of a brewer with a doctorate in microbiology and biochemistry, as per Michael Kuzyk, co-founder of Category 12 alongside, his wife, Karen.

As Juicy Data implies in its name, and the C12 website states explicitly, the intent here is to “squeeze the maximum possible tropical fruit juiciness out of our enormous hop additions,” which includes a couple of doses of dry-hopping. (For the uninitiated, dry-hopping is an aroma-producing method that involves adding hops after the initial boil, in addition to traditional wort hopping during the boil.) Four hop varieties are used, and the result is a densely hazy beer that boasts a tropical fruit aroma which begins fairly soft when the beer is cold but grows almost exponentially as it warms – another reason to drink from a glass rather than an aroma-constraining can! The flavour is a bit astringent, fruity up front – peach and mango – to a round and slightly bitter mid-palate and a drying, mild to moderately bitter finish. In the spirit of the brewery’s Pathway Pale Ale, this is an easy quaffer, except that instead of being mostly classically styled with a touch of haze, as is the Pathway, it’s mostly haze with a touch of classic styling, most notable in its refreshing bitterness.

85 ($15/4-pack of 473 mL cans in BC)